HOME | DD

Description
The tallest peak in the contiguous United States at 14,505. The plaque on the summit reads 11 feet shorter, so either the guys in 1929 screwed up the survey or the mountain is moving. Considering it's on a huge fault uplift, this isn't as completely wild as it might sound. Named for Josiah Whitney, a Harvard professor, who was appointed State Geologist of California by Congress and tasked to organize a 'geological survey' of the state. Got that? Congress orders a 'geological survey' of California in 1860. Pop quiz: what sort of geology are you supposed to survey? Whitney wasn't exactly the brightest bulb, and after years of publishing notes on paleontology instead of striking gold like he was supposed to, the whole project was defunded and California remained wild wooly and weird until the aforementioned 1929 guys did their own creative interpretation of a geologic survey.

Yeah, no Xander joke today . Just think about all those guys carrying chains through the woods of California, the competent, the incompetent, and the desperately lost.

Description
The tallest peak in the contiguous United States at 14,505. The plaque on the summit reads 11 feet shorter, so either the guys in 1929 screwed up the survey or the mountain is moving. Considering it's on a huge fault uplift, this isn't as completely wild as it might sound. Named for Josiah Whitney, a Harvard professor, who was appointed State Geologist of California by Congress and tasked to organize a 'geological survey' of the state. Got that? Congress orders a 'geological survey' of California in 1860. Pop quiz: what sort of geology are you supposed to survey? Whitney wasn't exactly the brightest bulb, and after years of publishing notes on paleontology instead of striking gold like he was supposed to, the whole project was defunded and California remained wild wooly and weird until the aforementioned 1929 guys did their own creative interpretation of a geologic survey.

Yeah, no Xander joke today . Just think about all those guys carrying chains through the woods of California, the competent, the incompetent, and the desperately lost.